Bex giggled as he fumbled in his rucksack and found the scrap of paper on which he’d written the name in pencil.

‘Yeah, Natalia …’

‘Natalia?’ squealed Fliss. ‘What, is she your mum’s friend, or something?’

‘No, just someone from back home.’ Ben struggled to keep his temper. ‘D’ya think she’s gone to the party tonight?’

‘Oh, no, she never does. Acts like it’s beneath her.’

Yes!

‘So, d’ya know where she might be now?’

‘Well, she was getting pissed with her lover boy all day. Not very dignified for someone her age.’ Fliss’s voice was spiteful; she’d quite fancied Juho, but after Natalia had turned up, he’d paid her no attention whatsoever.

‘Lover boy?’ Now it really was difficult to keep his tone nonchalant.

‘Yeah, Juho. He’s weird too. They do all this yoga stuff together. He’s staying in that hut over there.’

And she pointed over at the second nearest hut to the bar, which had a yoga mat on its deck, and several wind chimes hanging from a branch, tinkling in the breeze, above it.

God, what a dick, thought Ben.

‘Oh, look, talk of the devil, there he is!’

He was tall, lean and with good muscle definition, Ben noticed. He was trying to stride, but staggering slightly, in their direction, from the far end of the beach. He looked just as his hut had implied he might, all Zen-yoga-bollocks, with a shaved head, bare chest and Thai fisherman’s thin cotton trousers dangling above his bare feet and ankles. As he got closer, Ben was glad to see that his rival wasn’t anything like as good looking as he was.

What a cunt.

‘Hey,’ he shouted. ‘Are you the dude who knows a chick called Natalia?’

‘Why do you want to know?’ Juho replied angrily.

Ben finally lost his temper, jumping off the bar stool and running over to Juho in the sand. ‘Because I’ve travelled over eight thousand fucking miles to find her!’ he exploded in his own voice, losing the stoner façade completely. He couldn’t see any reason to carry on keeping up pretences now. ‘Just tell me where the fuck she is, you bloody hippy retard!’

Juho looked at him in silence for about half a minute, taking him in. He recognized the face now – Ben’s first sitcom, People Like Us, had been quite a hit, even back in Helsinki. Ben Jones. Underneath the disguise, the man was disgustingly handsome.

‘Well, well, you came for her after all,’ he said slowly. ‘I underestimated you.’ His anger was fading now, leaving him deflated. ‘I left her right at the far end of the beach, behind those rocks. She will be glad to see you.’

‘Thank you,’ said Ben, holding out his hand to shake Juho’s.

‘You’re a lucky man. She told me she loved me like a brother.’

‘Jesus. You poor bastard.’ Ben looked Juho sincerely in the eye, shook his hand again, and started running down the beach, leaving Fliss and Bex gazing after him, bemusement written all over their pretty little faces.